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gritty, visceral details of Packingtown, and at times it seems as if Sinclair is describing a deserted battlefield rather than a production zone for consumer goods: Packingtown is full of rivers of blood and rotting carcasses. Sinclair emphasized the filthy conditions of the warehouses in the hopes that the revolting depictions would cause the reading public to press for the reform of the immigrants working conditions. The public, though, proved more affected by sensation than by sympathy. Indeed, Sinclairs descriptive reportage clearly aims at the stomach; the novel lingers on gory images of poisoned rats and rusty nails in breakfast sausages. As the reading publics response to The Jungle would seem to indicate, Sinclairs dedication to blunt and sensational detail was useful for depicting